Parrots and other caged birds require approximately 12 hours of undisturbed sleep each night. The natural resting and sleeping position of a bird is perching, i.e., standing on a perch. Birds are uniquely able to sleep while standing on a perch, due to the fact that their feet naturally contract to grasp and hold onto the perch when the sleep, allowing them to remain upright.
Most parrots and other caged birds either enjoy or emotionally require a semi-enclosed space for retreat within its cage where it can feel safe and secure. Covering a cage with a towel or sheet at night is a common practice for many bird owners. The covered cage causes the bird to feel secure; however, this practice takes effort and discipline to remove it at the proper time each morning and is also unsightly to have a hanging towel or sheet in one's house. Several bird huts have been designed that provide a private space for a bird to obtain undisturbed sleep and to rest in within its cage.
However, none of the other known bird huts are designed to provide a caged bird with a sleeping/resting area that enables the bird to sleep or rest in a natural position. Specifically, it is unnatural for a bird to sleep with extended toes on a flat base, which is found in the prior art. Flat-based huts have been criticized for causing injuries and deaths to the birds that use them. Birds using these types of huts have been known to catch their toe nails in the floor of the hut, which has resulted in documented cases of toe and foot injury, toe loss, and even death.
An alternative solution, which provides a three-sided tent that lacks a base, has no roof and lacks the space to accommodate larger birds such as Macaws.
In addition, parrots and other caged birds emotionally and mentally benefit from having a substance in their cage against which they can snuggle before or while sleeping. Some substances provide birds with this benefit, but lack the ability to also provide the bird with privacy.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.